LAS VEGAS — Ten years ago, Ryan Craig was on the ice at City National Arena, working with the centers on the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights team as an assistant coach.
He would drop puck after puck between Cody Eakin, William Karlsson, Tomas Nosek, Brandon Pirri and anyone else who might be called upon to take a faceoff.
Thursday, Craig was back on the ice at CNA. This time as head coach of the Golden Knights. He was working with everyone — centers, wingers, defensemen and goaltenders. For the 44-year-old who has been with the organization since Year One in 2017, it’s a great opportunity to show that he was worth keeping around.
And he was fully engaged throughout the three separate sessions involving 66 players, taking the team from drill to drill, moving things along, teaching when necessary but always observing.
“We have very good standards here,” Craig said. “My job is to uphold those standards. We have a plan here we’ll execute day to day.”
He’s wisely taken advice from his predecessors — Gerard Gallant, Pete DeBoer and Bruce Cassidy. He even has experience with John Tortorella, who he played for in Columbus and communicated with him during Torts’ run to the Stanley Cup Final last spring.
They all told him the same thing — be yourself. And that’s what he’s doing. He prepped for this job the past three years as head coach of the AHL Henderson Silver Knights so he was never far from the eyes of Golden Knights president of hockey operations George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon. They ultimately were the ones who decided to give Craig his shot to be an NHL head coach.
“When you work in the business and for Ryan, it’s his first year as a head coach in the National Hockey Leagues you can’t wait to get started,” McCrimmon said. “He’s really prepared. He spent a lot of time with our returning players in the off-season and even more since the the start in September when everyone starts to come back.
“You’re going to find a guy who is going to do really good job with our team.”
Karlsson, who skated with the first of three groups on Thursday, said he sees a confident, knowledgeable coach in Craig and he’s looking forward to playing for him in his new role.
“I thought it felt pretty natural,” Karlsson said. “I was with him down in Henderson (last year) a little bit skating with him so I got a little taste of it then.
“Back then, he established a good relationship with the players. That was part of his role. But obviously he’s become better at it and that’s something he brings to the table as a head coach as well.”
With the short preparation time between now and opening night Sept. 29 vs. Chicago, things were up to speed quickly. Jack Eichel was centering for Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev, Karlsson was with Mitch Marner and Brett Howden. Tomas Hertl was skating with Victor Olofsson and Trevor Connelly and Nic Dowd was between Marc Gatcomb and Braeden Bowman.
The defense pairs had Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb, who will partner for their 10th year together, Rasmus Andersson with Parker Wotherspoon and Noah Hanifin skating with Jeremy Lauzon.
Carter Hart was in goal with the first group, Adin Hill with the second and Carl Lindbom with the final group.
Stone, who earlier in the week signed a two-year contract extension, said he can focus on hockey.
“It was a nice to get it done,” Stone said of staying a Golden Knight. “Sometimes those things can drag out but I don’t have to worry about answering the question during the season. I’m glad it’s over.”
With just four preseason games and veteran players only allowed to participate in two, Craig will give a long look, or as long as you can given the circumstances, at forwards Connelly, Jonas Rondbjerg, Kai Uchacz, Tanner Laczynski and Alex Holtz for the final couple of roster spots, beginning Saturday in Ontario, Calif. against the Los Angeles Kings.
He’ll need to get his vets some ice time but he also needs to decide who stays in Vegas and who goes down to Henderson.
“If you’re a guy competing for a spot, you have to do things to get noticed,” Craig said. “We talked about the urgency of this camp. It’s important that we get dialed in.”
Stone said his relationship with Craig over the years will help when it comes to communication between coach and captain.
“I think we’re trying to push the envelope pretty quick here,” Stone said. “Our first game is in 13 days so we have to be ready to go. But I thought it went well the first day.
“I don’t think Craiger is going to have to change a whole lot when it comes to messaging the way we doing things and operate,” Stone said. “We were two games from winning a Stanley Cup. We like the way the team is built. We like the mindset.
“He needs to get his message out but I’m confident the guys in the room will respond to his message and run with it.”